The Wayne Lady Bulldogs’ slowpitch season has come to an end. They finished with a 16-17 record and will lose two seniors to graduation, Alyssa Hobson and Ava Stottlemyre.

Last week they were in Tushka where they lost to the Lady Tigers 12-3. That loss sent the Lady Bulldogs to the losers bracket. Inclement weather cancelled games on Tuesday. Wayne was back in Tushka on Wednesday to play their second game against Hominy. They won a nail-biter, 10-9, putting them one win away from the State tournament.

But, in a close 2-1 loss to Ripley, Wayne’s season ended in the Regional final.

Tushka

In their first Regional tournament game, the Wayne Lady Bulldogs fell to Tushka, 12-3. Wayne collected nine hits but couldn’t keep up with the Lady Tigers’ offense. Hobson led the team with three hits,  going 3-3 at the plate.  Cylie Jones added two. Taelyn Ringwald, Addison Clagg, Maddie Moreno, Cylie Jones and Audra Watts each had one hit.

Tushka jumped out with six runs in the second and five more in the fourth.

Wayne pushed three runs across in the fourth inning to cut into the Tigers’ lead.

Hominy

In their second game of Regional play, Wayne jumped out in front of Hominy scoring a run on a Lady Bucks error. The Lady Bulldogs added two more runs when Watts singled down the line in the second. They added one more run in the top of the fourth to hold a 4-0 lead.

But, Hominy wasn’t going away easily. They scored one in the bottom of the fourth and seven in the fifth to take the lead.

Thanks to a Stottlemyre single to score one and a three-run homerun from Skie Jones, Wayne jumped back in front. Hominy would score one more run to keep things interesting, but it wasn’t enough. 

Wayne finished the game with 13 hits – two each from Natalie Knobloch, Stottlemyre, Skie Jones and Dakota Martin. Jones also had three ribbies.

Ripley

In the Regional final game with Ripley both teams were scoreless until the bottom of the third inning when Ripley scored two runs on a Wayne error and a ground out. Wayne answered in the top of the sixth when Stottlemyre flied out to score Knobloch.

Wayne out hit the Lady Warriors 7-5 in the loss. Stottlemyre led the team with two hits and their lone RBI. Knobloch, Ringwald, Clagg, Skie Jones and Watts each added a hit.

Head coach Megan Moreno said, “The sting of being beat in the Regional final will hopefully be the fire we need to make it to State next season. These girls have battled all season.”

Several Lady Bulldogs were named to the Red, White and Blue All-Conference team. They include Alyssa Hobson, Addison Clagg, Taelyn Ringwald, Ava Stottlemyre and Natalie Knobloch. They played in the RWB All-Conference game on April 27.